Andrews govt CFA bill to go to committee

The Victorian government's controversial bill to split the CFA will go to a committee.

The Andrews government's controversial bid to split up Victoria's fire services is bound for a parliamentary committee, after the bill stalled in the upper house.

With just one sitting week left until the winter break, MPs returned to parliament on Tuesday with the bill still in limbo.

But on Tuesday evening the state government capitulated to key cross benchers who demanded more consultation on the changes, which split the CFA into a volunteer-only organisation and send career firefighters into the MFB to create Fire Services Victoria.

"We are willing to support the establishment of a select committee tomorrow to give the crossbench more time to consider this legislation," a spokesman for the government said.

The Democratic Labour Party's Rachel Carling-Jenkins demanded a select committee look at the bill, with her proposal supported by the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party and fellow independent, Sex Party MP Fiona Patten.

The votes of the crossbenchers are needed to pass the bill, which is tied to widely-supported presumptive rights cancer compensation.

Labor says creating a new fire organisation is the only way to break an impasse in the protracted CFA pay dispute and improve emergency responses.

The pay battle has dragged on for years, and it has been a year since Mr Andrews declared he had "fixed" the ongoing saga.